6 Plumbing Tips for New Homeowners

As a first-time homeowner, you have much to learn about how to care for your home. When it comes to your plumbing, there are many ways you can protect your home from potential disastrous and costly problems. Here are a few things you can do to be a responsible homeowner.

1. Get a plumbing and heating inspection.

Affordable Plumbing and Heat offers plumbing and heating inspections at a reasonable price. You cannot compete with our prices. Inspections are beneficial to a new homeowner because it provides with you issues within your plumbing and heating system that would be beneficial to fix. Some issues are pressing, but some you can hold off on for a bit. Once the inspection is complete, we will provide you with a list of things that should be replaced or repaired. This also allows you to budget for the proper repairs. When you also get a camera inspection, a camera is sent down your sewer system to check on its condition. If there is a clog this allows us to see exactly what is causing the clog. Often times it is feminine hygiene products or paper towels. We will also provide you with a copy of the video.

2. Locate your water main shut off valve.

In the event of a plumbing emergency, you will need to know where your shut off valve is located. The last thing you need during an emergency pipe leak is to search around your house for the shut off valve. There is already a plumbing emergency, you do not want gallons and gallons of water flooding your home and destroying your property. You may find the main water shut off valve in the basement or crawl space below your house. The main shut off valve will shut off the water within the whole house.

3. Routinely clean your shower drain.

It might look like the creature from the black lagoon, but ignoring it can cause clogged drains. Take the time to clear that hair and debris from the shower. Your pipes and your pocketbook will thank you later. Setting up a routine maintenance a few times a year could be beneficial. You can also install a catch all to help prevent hair and other things from going down the drain to cause clogs. If you are experiencing clogs in your sewer system, like stated above, a camera inspection could be a good idea. This allows the company and you to see exactly what is causing the backup. Affordable Plumbing and Heat also offers hydro jetting. This is a process that cleans sewer lines quickly and efficiently. It utilizes high-velocity water pressure. Hyro jetters eliminate clogs in a flash, remove dangerous blocks, and clears out pipe walls.

4. Never use a liquid drain cleaner.

Instead, use a snake or call Affordable to unclog a pipe. Inexpensive snakes can be purchased at home improvement stores and having one located in your home is a great way to keep drains free and clear from debris. Liquid drain cleaners can cause more damage to your pipes than fix the that it claims it can fix. To ensure that your pipes will become unclogged safely and efficiently, call:

If the water in your pipes freeze, it can cause the pipe to burst when you are not home or out of town. Therefore, you could come home to a completely flooded house. Affordable Plumbing and Heat can come winterize your home before the cold weather hits, and we can come de-winterize the following spring before the heat begins. Taking precautionary measures can save you a ton of money in the long run. No one wants to wake up to a completely flooded house that could have been prevented in the first place. Keep in mind that water expands when it is frozen. If water in your pipes freezes, it will crack the pipes. When warmer weather hits the frozen water will then melt, and seep through the cracks. That is what causes the house or basement to flood. It is inevitable. It is better to prepare and prevent than to repair and regret.

6. Emergency numbers.

Keep the Affordable Plumbing and Heat phone number on hand for both emergency and large-scale plumbing needs. We are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. There is always a dispatcher to answer your phone call, whether it is at noon or midnight. There is also always a licensed technician on call for all your plumbing and heating emergencies. Emergencies happen, and that is something that Affordable takes very seriously.

As sewer and plumbing experts we also recommend that you keep the number handy of your local water utility service. In all major cities in the your area should report plugged storm drains around your home, sewer back-ups and any flooding you see near your home or in your neighborhood.

"This was the best plumbing company experience I have ever had. The plumbing technician, Curt, was outstanding in the truest sense of that word. He was courteous, articulate, conscious that he had been working outside and thus careful to not track dirt into the house...simply a cut above. And he did the job fast and with skill. I would highly recommend Affordable to anyone without reservation."